John Stuart Mill: Autobiography Essay on liberty

Looking at how Mill described his writing in his Autobiography may help to better understand Mill's motivation for writing On Liberty. On Liberty according to Mill is about the need of a vast variation in types of character and of affording full freedom to human nature to expand itself in many and competing directions as he put it in his essay. Throughout the entire book On Liberty there is a celebration of uniqueness and a detestation of conformity. Mill opposes any efforts to influence people's ideas and behaviour through social or legal coercion. He contends that society should appreciate diversity and that force should only be used when a person's behaviour endangers other people.